Revelation 17 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and spoke to me, saying: "Come, I will show you the doom of the noted prostitute who is seated on many waters,

Williams⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and spoke to me, saying: "Come, I will show you the doom of the noted prostitute who is seated on many waters, ² in whose prostitution the kings of the earth have joined, and with the wine of whose prostitution the inhabitants of the earth have been intoxicated." ³ So he carried me away in spiritual rapture to a desert, and I saw a woman seated on a scarlet wild beast, covered with blasphemous titles; he had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, decorated in gold and precious stones and pearls, and she had in her hand a cup of gold, full of abominations and the impurities of her immorality. ⁵ On her forehead was written a name with a symbolical meaning, "Mighty Babylon, the mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations." ⁶ I saw the woman drinking herself drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of the martyred witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was utterly astonished, ⁷ but the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will tell you the symbolical meaning of the woman, and the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns, that carries her. ⁸ The wild beast that you saw, once was but now is no more; he is going to come up out of the abyss, but he is going to be destroyed. The inhabitants of the earth, whose names from the foundation of the world have not been written in the book of life, will be astonished when they see that the wild beast once was but now is no more, and yet is to come. ⁹ Here is scope for a mind that is packed with wisdom. The seven heads are the seven hills on which the woman is seated. ¹⁰ There are also seven kings; five have fallen, one is on the throne, the other has not yet come, and when he does he must stay but a little while, ¹¹ So it is with the wild beast that once was but is no more; he is the eighth, and yet is one of the seven, and he is going to be destroyed. ¹² The ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet become kings, but for a single hour they accept authority as kings allied with the wild beast. ¹³ They have one common policy. They give their power and authority to the wild beast. ¹⁴ They will make war upon the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, and His chosen, elect, and faithful followers will conquer with Him, too, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings." ¹⁵ He also said to me: "The waters that you saw, on which the prostitute was seated, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. ¹⁶ The ten horns that you saw and the wild beast will be the very ones to hate the prostitute, to make her desolate and naked, to eat up her flesh, and burn her up with fire. ¹⁷ For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by giving up their authority to the wild beast until God's words are carried out. ¹⁸ And the woman whom you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth."